Because 7 Ate 9
by Chiiharu
Summary: Dreams just stopped making sense to her. Sometimes they would be these beautiful impromptu sequences—other times they would scare her into waking up. "You remind me of a bunny..." Wasn't she afraid of them? Happy birthday Tazzy!


**A/N:** Happy birthday, Tazzy. XD Of course I had to whip you out an awesome-CCFA-oneshot. Because I started one already and couldn't be bothered doing something else. XD It doesn't make sense though, like I was telling you. XD

Oh well, as long as you like it. XD

Lack of fights = lame. XD

Also, I kinda looked over this fast, so I'll recheck it in the morning. XD

* * *

"You remind of a bunny..."

**-: Because 7 Ate 9 :-**

_I used to never dream, but now  
I only have nightmares.  
Will you save me from this darkness?  
Keep me surrounded;  
I hear you calling me,  
I need to feel you,  
To end my agony and wash it all away.  
Let me feel you  
Reaching for me.  
I need to be,  
I need to be surrounded by you._

-- "Because 7 Ate 9" -- "Before Their Eyes

_**.**_

_She's not sleep, only fully awake. Low voltage, high frequency _**b**_**e**_**t**_**a**_ **w**_**a**_**v**_**e**_**s**_._

Head bowed, hands on her left-knee, not a sound in the room. That's how I remembered it. I was standing there, looking just as confused as anyone else. Shirogane sat in his chair looking really important, and Morta was leaning against the wall with her arms folded—just like she always did. If it wasn't for the gloomy atmosphere in the air, it would have been just like old times! Except, this wasn't like old times. Miyuki hadn't told us about anything that had happened. We just jumped on a ship and flew here... I loved seeing Spectra, I really did! Spectra was so beautiful—so serene—but I hated feeling like garbage.

"Shirogane, have you guys found a cure yet?" Miyuki asked, her head still bowed down. Shirogane... The most respected man in Spectra ran his fingers through his oily blonde hair before sighing. I knew everything was going to be okay! We wouldn't have it any other way!

"I'm afraid not, Miyuki," he answered back. I wanted to know what they were talking about. No one wanted to tell me anything anymore... Even Morta was hiding things from me, and I thought we were friends. "It's the poison Essence, we're one hundred percent sure of that, but you all should be feeling the effects as well." I scratched my head, trying to figure out what was happening right now. Just what was going on here...? I heard someone running across the floor, their shoes tapping really loudly. I looked over, and it was Rayne! It had been ages since I had seen her! Maybe she could have told me what was going on?!

But she ran straight pass me, not even waving at me.

She pushed her glasses up to her face in a panic, her hair all over the place. She held her lexicon in her hands—I remembered that big book! The lexicon looked like it was going to slip out of her fingertips though, like she was going to drop it. She looked at Shirogane and he returned her glance. Were they about to do something really awesome?! Rayne keeled down next to Miyuki and they both nodded at each other. "Summoner Morta, Summoner Kokoro, good to see you two."

"Hi, hi!" I exclaimed, waving my hand in the air. At least Rayne sounded thrilled to see us when she said hi to us. She looked at her book and then there was this huge explosion of air. It was pretty random and it was so sudden. Miyuki and Rayne both stood up straight and this map thingy showed up from inside the wind-vortex. Rayne turned towards Shirogane, pulling out some kind of pointer-stick.

"Okay, it's as bad as I thought it would be," she said, catching her breath like she had been holding it in for a while. There was air all around us! Rayne could breathe regularly if she wanted to, so I didn't understand it.... "It's wrapped around all of her vital organs, and I do mean _all _of them. At first I didn't believe it, but... It's true. It's shutting down her whole body, slowly, and no matter what we do, it just won't let go."

Shirogane's eyes widened, but just a bit. I didn't even know who they were talking about. He looked like he was ready to jump out of his seat! Whoever this was, the person must have been really important! Important enough to make Shirogane twitch a little... "That's not good, Rayne. Do you have every Essence specialist in that room trying to take the thing out?"

Rayne shook her head, the pointer in her hand shaking. No, her whole body was shaking. What was wrong with her? I knew I could make her smile if she just told me what was wrong! "It's no good. We'd have to preform a living autopsy, and, well, that just isn't going to work. I think we're in a permanent spot." Rayne's eyes traveled the entire room, as empty as it was, and then her eyes locked on ground. "I'm sorry, Shirogane. I really am. I'm sorry my abilities were no use to you, and I'm sorry I let the Summoners down and—" She started choking on her words, and then she started to choke on her tears. "I know you only get the best of the best, and if I can't find out how to get that thing out of her, then—then—I'm a failure as a doctor..."

"The real question is, Rayne, how'd that thing get in there? We were fighting like we always do... Somehow it got inside of her. It messed with her, for lack of a better word, like it was commanded to do it..." Morta unglued herself from the wall and stepped in the middle of the room.

"We can find the person that commanded it to do all of that, right? If we find that person, we can cure her."

"Time is compressing, Morta," Shirogane sighed. "We can't hope that we can obtain miracles so quickly and fortunately. If we don't find out how to take this thing out now, Spectra will fall to pieces. No, the whole_ universe_ will. Time compression is a horrible thing, but I'm sure Miyuki told you all this, right? If you die, death would disappear, and everything would live forever. If Kokoro died, fire would disappear—not only physically—but symbolically and mentally as well. The world would frost over and we'd all die. In this case, if everything doesn't start compressing, things will start disintegrating, speed up, or slow down significantly." Wait, it was all starting to come back to me now! Something did happen to Sayuri, but she wasn't going to die, right? Rayne cleared her throat and the wind died down, forming into a screen.

"There are a lot of worlds within this universe, and as time goes on, Sayuri is trying to pull them together—which means that they will collide. This will immediately result in death of the universe, there are no qualms about that."

* * *

_They're really drowsy, but are nowhere near sleep, this is the moment of_ **a_l_p_h_a** **_w_a_v_e_s_** _that are prominent._

"Deal! We'll do that easy, Miyuki!" Sayuri exclaimed, throwing her hand into the air. I smiled a little. Did we really have to have a competition for the last slice of pizza? I didn't mind it though; competitions were fun, win or lose! Miyuki knitted her fingers and sighed, placing her hand softly on the table. "And Morta will even play too, right?" Actually, Morta sat at a near-by table and glanced at us due to the sound of her name. She was still eating her slice of pizza, trying to wipe the cheese off her lips. I scratched my forehead. She wasn't going to compete with us.

"No," she said flatly. "Why would I need the last piece? I have pizza already." She finished her sentence and continued eating, watching us from afar. I really didn't need the last piece of pizza either. Sayuri could have it if she wanted it! I pushed the box towards her and she kind of gave me a weird look and then she pushed it back at me and huffed. Miyuki sighed some more.

"Na-uh," Sayuri said, pointing a finger at me. "Are you trying to say I'm not worthy of battling you?" No! I wasn't trying to say that at all! I waved my hands in front of me. "Now you've forced me to unleash my secret plan. Rock Paper Scissors! It's do or die, Kokoro." Before I could say anything, Sayuri readied her fist and glared at me. I guess I really had no choice but to play.

"Starting with rock!" She smirked, her eye twitching a bit. Well, if she was going to start with rock, I was going to pull out paper! Why would she tell me something like that anyway? We both hit the palms of our hands tree times and unveiled our weapons! Sayuri opened the palm of her hand and in a flash of purple light, a white flimsy piece of paper floated in the air. What? She cheated! Now we both had paper! "Damn, I messed up! I should have picked scissors!"

"Hey, you tried to get one over on me!" I said, frowning. "That's not nice, Sayuri!"

"Who said winning had to be nice?"

"Well that's the point! There's no fun in the game if all you're interested in is winning!" I pointed my index finger at the piece of paper and it lit up in flames. Her eyes widened and the burnt pieces of paper hit the ground really slowly. She got on her knees, gasped, and then looked at me, gritting her teeth.

"You can't burn my paper! Why would you burn my paper?" She stood back up and prepared her next attack. I didn't mean to make her mad... But cheating is never fair! "Starting... Starting with paper!" Was she really going to start with paper? No, she was just going to say she would start with paper and then change her mind! See, telling me she would start with paper would ensure that I would pick rock and then she'd pick paper again!

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

This time I was the one who chose paper! But she had other plans. She smirked and opened her hands. The whole room flashed in a purple light.

"Ha, dynamite!"

"Wait, dynamite?! You can't do that!" I carped. Now she was just cheating for no reason! Who decided on adding dynamite to the game? She just said that we were playing a great honest game of Rock Paper Scissors! This wasn't fun anymore...

"Oh yes I can!" Sayuri purred. "Dynamite beats rock but scissors can beat it! And you didn't pick scissors! You went with the usual paper!"

I tried to think quickly! "Wait, dynamite can't do anything to paper! If anything, paper would smother the fuse out!" Yeah, that was right! My paper floated towards her hovering dynamite and covered its fuse, causing it to go out. I smiled triumphantly.

"Nope Kokoro, that's not even close to how it words. Dynamite _shreds_ paper!" The dynamite exploded and the paper around it disappeared. I put my hands in my pockets and sighed. Morta got up and walked towards us, grabbing the dynamite.

"I'm declaring it a draw," she said. "Sayuri, you just can't put in a new weapon and expect to win. One more round and that should do it, guys. We have work to do."

"Oh yeah, now Joykill just has to walk in the middle of the game and ruin everything!" Sayuri said sarcastically. "It doesn't matter though; I'm going to win by the time all of this is over anyway! Let's go, Kokoro!" My stomach started growling. Maybe eating that last piece of pizza was a good thing after all.

"On last round, Sayuri," Morta instructed. "And if Kokoro wins, he gets it okay?"

I thought Sayuri was going to get mad! But she just smiled at me and readied her stance. "Alright, I like those odds, Morta! Let's make this a anything goes round, shall we?" Anything goes round? Like what? I tried to figure out what she meant, and then she pushed me on the ground and grabbed the box.

"Hey, Sayuri! Get back here!!" I yelled, trying to stumble back on my feet.

"Catch me if you can!" she yelled, opening the box and running across the room. Miyuki face-palmed and Morta just watched us. If that was how she was going to play it... I wanted some pizza too! We could have just split it in half! I starting flinging fire at her through my fingertips and she just stopped all together.

"If I can freeze bullets, I can freeze fire!" she cackled, my fire stopping right in front of her. "And now, my victory! Smarts always wins over dumbness—_offaaaah_!" So if I couldn't hit her with my fire, I decided to tackle her! Fair game, and I got my pizza! No, it had slid all the way towards the other side of the room! I reached out towards it, but it was so far away...

Instead of reaching for it, I just burst out in laughter, and so did Sayuri.

Maybe this was fun after all.

_

* * *

_

_Now it's time for her to rest,_ **t**_**h**_**e**_**t**_**a** **_w_a_v_e_s_** _are prominent._

I stopped, paused, and put my index finger on my lips. I couldn't think of anything good to say, so I just pointed to Kokoro's lack-of-shoes. "Dude, where'd your shoes go?" He looked just as confused as I was. I turned around and glanced at the bunnies around us. Not realizing the impending doom, bunnies hopped into the meadow, munching on flowers. Things were going to start exploding, fast.

"I don't know, I just—" Air flew straight past me, freezing the grass in a heavy coat of ice. It was go time once again. The bunnies hardly got away from Morta's onslaught of ice and now they were in a frenzy. Holy crap, I couldn't get the bunnies caught in all of this mess! I clutched my wand, my nails digging into my palms. I didn't know what we were even fighting...

It was something... Something that I thought I knew, but something that I didn't really know at the same time.

It was weird. I couldn't put it in words. Morta swung her scythe in front of her, bringing the blade right over her head. This figure appeared. Three of them, infact. And the next thing I know... This black thing big-booted me in the face and I flew back really fast. This thing was faster than me, though. It pushed me from behind and I fell on the ground, knees first. Now Miyuki had found her way to me. Well, she was a little bit ahead of me, holding her cards in-between her fingers.

"There has to be more than three of them. This is impossible. What are these things?" I looked up and saw my wand on the ground. As soon as I saw it I reached towards it. If this wasn't an Essence... Then... Then... Then what was that thing?! I had just barely grabbed my wand and the dark thing was back and tried to uppercut me in the face.

Well, he didn't try.

He_ succeeded. _I we sent spiraling upwards and almost hit the ground—but I felt someone run under me. Catching myself in mid-air, I swung my wand across the sky, stopping time in an instant. However, something was running under me. What the heck was that thing?! If this was something unnecessary we were lightning, then... We didn't need to be fighting it! My back skidded against the ground and I slid past two of the rabbits. They were slowed down by my time control, at least.

These guys were unlucky.

I liked bunnies. I liked bunnies a lot. Grabbing both of them, I got back on my feet and then the whole field erupted in flames, followed by Miyuki's cards dancing around everywhere. Spinning my wand in my hand, I used the water Essence with doused the flames out and sighed. "Oh jeez..." I sighed, putting the animals back on the ground. The whole gang appeared right in front of me, scratching their heads.

"Does anyone know what that was?" Miyuki asked. It wasn't like her not to know stuff. She was our all-knowing guardian, wasn't she?! Morta placed her scythe over her shoulder and it disappeared.

"As long as it doesn't come back... We shouldn't think about it too much. We should just keep going forward." Yeah, going forward sounded like a good thing. I was going to walk but the bunnies nuzzled up to my leg. I blinked.

"Sayuri?"

"Huuuuuh?"

I turned around and saw Kokoro standing there was shoes on his hands. "I found 'em!"

"Shoes. The things you put on your... Feet?" I said. I looked for those bunnies and damn it they disappeared! What the... Kokoro just nodded, trying to get a knot out of his shoelaces with his teeth.

"Weird huh?"

"Yeah. Really weird. Where did those rabbits go?!" I turned around extra paranoid. Was I seeing stuff or...?

"Umm, Sayuri, what rabbits?"

"The ones in the field! They were in the field just a second ago and now they're gone!!"

Miyuki smiled, but only slightly. "This is just more of a reason why we need to get back to Spectra. Now you're starting to see things. We aren't in a field. We're in the airship..." Okay, now everyone was just messing with me. We couldn't be in an airship because we were just fighting some random things! I waved my hands in the air.

"But those faceless things!! What about those things we were just fighting, guys?!" Heck no, I still had the bruises on my arms from that battle and no one thought we had fought? They were all giving me these weird looks! I mean, Miyuki was just talking about how hard those faceless things were, and so was Morta! I twitched because something hit my head. It was Kokoro and he was patting my head. I narrowed my eyes and hissed.

"Sayuri, you should really go to bed now!"

* * *

**R_E_M **

_The_ **f_i_n_a_l _s_t_a_g_e_** _of sleep._

Miyuki just stood there like nothing was really happening! I knew they couldn't be thinking of killing Sayuri, could they? They couldn't replace her, could they? Even if we did get another person... They wouldn't be able to compare to her... "So we're not even going to try, Miyuki?" I said, throwing my arms out to my sides. Miyuki just glanced at me, lost in though. She was tapping her fingers against her chin.

"Our job is not to worry about Sayuri. As much as I don't want to say it, if she can't fight anymore, we're going to have to..." She paused. "'Dispose' of her. We can't really help that..."

"Of course we can! How do you know? We haven't even tried!" I turned towards Shirogane and Rayne, hoping at least one of them would side with me on this one! "I'm sure if we tracked down the person who made her sick in the first place..."

"Track down what person?" Rayne tilted her head, blinking. "Kokoro, are you feeling okay? Are you feeling well enough to start fighting today? Where's Sayuri?" What? What did she mean where was Sayuri? They had Sayuri, didn't they?!

"Rayne, this isn't funny!" I yelled. "Is she going to die or not?!" Now Miyuki and Morta were giving me head tilts. Rayne walked over to me and put the back of her hand on my forehead.

"You have a fever. Or it could be due to the fact that your body has the ability to generate hotter heat at will... You should go to sleep, Kokoro. Sayuri's fine. She's with you guys, isn't she?" Is she? I didn't know anymore... They were all just talking about how she was going to die and now she was with us? I turned around. Where was she?

"If she's with us, then how come she isn't here? Somebody please say something to me! I feel like no one is telling me what I need to know..."

"We're ordering the death of Sayuri to ensure that the worlds obtain their natural balance," Shirogane said. "I'm sorry, Summoners. Miyuki... There's nothing we can do about her." My mouth fell open. But they just said that she was okay! Now Rayne went back to looking sad... Magically.

"But wait! You can't do that!" I sounded like a broken record. "No one wants that to happen. Not Miyuki, not Morta, and not me!" Shirogane just glanced at me, running his fingers through his glossy blonde hair.

"We keep trying to tell you Kokoro, there's nothing we can do now."

"We can track down the person!" I said once more, a determined look on my face.

"Kokoro, I fail to see who this 'person' is you're talking about..." Morta muttered. "What can't we do? We're here to relax and take a break..." Okay, now I thought I was really losing my mind...

"Just... Someone tell me what happened to Sayuri? Please?"

"I'm right here you idiot! I've been standing next to you this whole time!!" I wasn't so much as confused as I was happy! I was so glade that she wasn't sick or dead. But then... What was happening? Sayuri walked towards me and everyone around us seemed to stop. Everything stopped. "Okay so... How do I explain this? I like bunnies."

"Bunnies?" Now I tilted my head. "What do bunnies have to do with all of this?"

"Of course you don't remember the bunnies," Sayuri said sarcastically. "Kokoro, you need to wake up." But I was up... What was she going to tell me about the bunnies again? "You remind me of a bunny..." She looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "Is there something you don't know that I do know? Or vice versa? 'Cause I'm trying to figure out this situation." I put my finger on my chin.

"Well, I just remember everyone freaking out about you dying or something and things were weird for a while... But I'm glad you're back now."

"Just as I suspected!" Sayuri declared. "Okay, you and I our having some kind of weird impromptu dream at the same exact time. Your dream is woefully meshing with my dream. But which one's which...?" We were having the same dream? Dreaming at the same time? "The people in our dreams are... They're—they don't know any better." Everything she was saying made no sense to me.

"I'm so glad you're okay Sayuri, I—"

"Bottom line, you shouldn't sleep while I sleep," she hissed, folding her arms. And then she started flickering. She went from smiling to her skin being tainted green and looking really sick. She wasn't dreaming about herself dying, was she? Why would she want to do something like that?

"But Sayuri, you're dreaming about dying!"

"So? That's not all there was to it, you know! I dreamed about the bunnies too. Just let me get my rest so I can get back to my dream." Things were starting to move again. It was only a matter of time before this dream kept going again. I'd do anything... I didn't think I could stomach watching her dream conflict with mine...

"How did we get like this in the first place?" I asked.

"I don't know, why are you asking me?" she carped. "Maybe something malfunctioned...? Either way it goes, you've got about a minute to say what you need to say, because this thing is going to keep going..." I knew what I wanted to say. It had been eating away at me for a while now...

"You don't like bunnies, Sayuri. You don't like any kind of animal, remember? You don't even like Miyuki! So what are you talking about?" She blinked! I think a had gotten through to her! Everything resumed, but everyone acted like were weren't even there!

"What the... You're right. You're really right. I don't like bunnies..." Sayuri put her hands on her head and looked on the ground. "What the heck was I just saying... Bunnies?" She tried to think some more and her wand appeared in her hands. She looked up at me and was angry. Really angry.

"What's wrong?" I asked, reaching out towards her.

"Man, what do you mean what's wrong? I get it... I get what this thing tried to do. Dude, Kokoro, we were being ambushed by the sleep Essence and it's still here. Twisting my thoughts and making me compare you to a damn bunnies! Who does that, Essence thing? No wonder things were all weird! Messing with me in my dreams, I'll get this guy!" Wait, she was comparing me to the bunnies? So did that mean she liked me or something?

I didn't want to think about it too hard! If this was an Essence we were fighting, then she needed my help. "You know what sucks about all of this? I think the Essence was trying to kill us in our sleep." I transformed and summoned my orb, looking around Shirogane's room. Everyone was just talking to each other... And then they started whispering to each other. They turned into these towering shadows with viscous claws... Each one of them sounded like the person they were before they transformed.

"What?" Sayuri blinked, shaking her wand. "This thing isn't working? Are you serious?!" Really? I tried to use my weapon but it wasn't acting right either... How were we suppose to fight then? If this was a dream and we were both dreaming separate dreams... This had to be her dream, right?

"Hey, Sayuri? Let's play rock paper scissors." She looked at me and rose a brow.

"Y-you remember that dream?!"

Yeah! Oh course I did! "Didn't _I_ dream that dream? So you shouldn't know anything about it, right?"

"I thought that was _me _dreaming that dream!" she babbled. "You weren't suppose to know about that!" Now her whole face was painted crimson. The shadows were getting closer... We had to do something. We both looked at each other and put down our weapons.

"Starting with rock!" she exclaimed, smirking. We wasted no time and did this super quick.

"Dynamite!" We both exclaimed. The whole room disappeared and there was this wind that formed between our clinched hands. So were we heading into my dream now? I started to walk off, but she grabbed my hand.

"Don't be stupid!" she chided. Her bangles clanked together as she adjusted her grip on my hand, only to let it go as soon as we appeared some place else. We were standing inside of a room now. In the middle of a room. It was too dark for me to pick out specific things.

"So are we okay now?" I asked. Sayuri nodded her head and sighed.

"Man, that's never happened to me before. That was pretty weird... Oh, and about the bunnies thing. … I'm actually pretty afraid of bunnies. They scare me like nothing else does on the planet. That's all that I really wanted to say to you about it." She sat down on something... I think it was her bed. So we weren't in a dream anymore? There was something about this place that made me feel like I was floating on air... So maybe we were still in a dream. "Anyway Kokoro, you've got to go back to your dream and I'll stay in mine. I think we beat this thing. For now, anyway."

"But if he's going to come back," I argued. "At least let me help you fight him!"

"The bunny?" She got up and walked towards me. "Dude, you _are_ the bunny. Now go!" She started to push me out of the door and I just blinked. How was I the bunny? "It's best if you just get out before you start anymore trouble!" I wasn't the bad guy in all of this! I don't know what was happening. She stopped pushing me and dramatically stomped in front of me. "You don't know anything, do you? This is REM, the last period of sleep. I'm afraid of bunnies... And I kept saying that I liked them. I kept comparing you to bunnies and you made me actually like them. So in some weird way, this Essence was warping my feelings for you towards the bunnies. But it's not like you're going to remember all of this when you wake up anyway."

I blinked some more and stayed in one spot. "Huh?"

I felt her cold hands touch mine and she lightly kissed me on the lips. "Better? Now get out of my room."

So... Were we still in a dream?

I was standing there looking just as confused as when I came. Then she threw a pillow at my face. "Leave! I'm trying to go back to sleep!"

I turned around and she was already tucked inside of her bed, turned over. … It sounded like she had already fallen asleep. I cracked a smile and closed the door.

I would try to remember in the morning.


End file.
